Construction

It’s light. Most of the week we fished the #4 F1 (currently the biggest one) on a Sage 790-4 Xi3. The rig balanced perfectly with the Xi3, which is a pretty light rod, especially in the 7 weight.

It’s super stiff. Ross says that the carbon fiber spool support makes the reel rigid. We don’t know what makes it rigid, but yeah…it’s really hard to flex this thing. This matters when you’re dealing with strong, hot fish like the bonefish on South Andros – you don’t want your reel flexing when you’re cranking hard on a big fish.

We like the machined foot. The reel foot isn’t screwed on – it’s machined from the same chunk of metal as the frame. This might seem like a silly technical detail, but it’s a pretty big deal actually. We’ve seen multiple guests’ reel frames come unscrewed from the reel foot in the middle of a battle, and it’s not pretty, at all.

The handle is mounted way on the outer edge of the spool. This isn’t incredibly significant, other than the fact that it has a large arbor to start with. It feels ‘really large arbor’ – each crank of the handle covers quite a lot of ground.

Drag Performance

The engagement is super smooth. It takes just a smooth, easy pull to start line coming off the reel. That doesn’t matter so much on South Andros where 15 pound tippet is common – but it’s definitely something to consider if you’re considering a smaller size F1 for fishing in 6x-Land.

Drag performance was extremely consistent. Whether it was dry or dunked underwater (yes, we dunk reels when testing them because we think it’s hilarious that some fly reels perform different when they’re wet…really?), tight drag or loose drag, beginning or end of the week, we could tell pretty much no difference in the performance of the drag. No, a week at a fishing lodge doesn’t say much about how this reel is going to perform in a year (we’ll let you know in a year), but lots of drags change over the course of the conditions we just ran through, and the F1 didn’t.

We like the linear drag adjustment. Ross talks about the 56:1 mechanical advantage in the drag adjustment, and we’re not quite sure what that means. We do know that uniform turns of the drag knob resulted in uniform changes to the drag, which translates to “when we had to crank down on a big fish, turning the knob did what we thought it would”.

Conclusion

Pretty simple – we loved the Ross F1, and couldn’t come up with any issues at all with its design or performance. It’s a great looking, light, solid, high performance reel that we’d love to reach for any time we’re headed out on the flats.

In the larger sizes, it’s priced in the same ballpark as other comparable (mostly saltwater) reels – $525 for the #4 we tested. In the smaller sizes, it looks more expensive compared to the other options out there – $475 for the #2 that matches your 5 weight. It’s an incredible reel – in the smaller sizes you’ll just have to decide how much you want to spend.

The F1 is a high-end reel for line weights 2 to 9. It’s got a totally sealed drag system, a machined reel foot, a whole bunch of carbon fiber and some really cool design elements that we’re barely smart enough to understand. It looks great, and we can’t wait to take one out on the water – this winter on South Andros, perhaps. These reels aren’t cheap – $425 – $525.

We were interested enough in the F1 that we asked Brad Befus from Ross to give us a walk-through of the reel on video. Besides being one of the authors of Carp on the Fly, Brad is the sales manager for Ross. Sit back, relax and have a listen to Brad telling you everything you want to know about the F1.

Here on day 1 at the International Fly Tackle Dealer show, we just got a walkthrough of the new products from Ross and Ross Worldwide. There’s some cool stuff here – have a look.

Rx Rods

The new Rx rods are now the top end of Ross’s reel line. They’re faster and lighter than Ross’s previous rods. We test cast the 8 weight and thought it’d be a great rod for bonefish at Andros South – it performs particularly well for longer casts and shooting large amounts of line. At $299 these rods are definitely a great deal.

Diamond Rods

Bling!

Something for the ladies! Built with the same graphite as the Rx rods, the Diamond rod series has smaller grips specifically designed for female hands. Bonus points – these rods are actually bedazzled! They’ve got little gems inlaid in the butt section. Why not? They’re also $299.

F1 Reel

Formula 1 Fishing Technology

The big news from Ross is their new F1 reel – a high end teched-out reel for line weights from 3 to 8. We thought the F1 was cool enough that we shot a video walkthrough of the reel that we’ll be posting in the next day or so.

RossTec Spey Cases

Plenty of room.

They’re not new rods and reels, but the RossTec spey cases meet a serious demand for those of us with the double-hand disease. They’re built with a reel pouch big enough to accommodate two-handed rods and their reels – making it possible to protect and transport spey rigs without taking off your reel. Nice. We’ll be using these on the Upper Dean next year.

Pescador Pliers

Trout pliers, anyone?

The Pescador Pliers have been around for a few years, but this year Ross brought them out in cool anodized rainbow trout and tarpon patterns. They work the same but look better.